


Crying Silently

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Crying, Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 02:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10687833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: Coming back from a mission, Wally finds that he really doesn't want to go back.





	Crying Silently

The lights were low as the Bio-Ship made its way back towards Mt. Justice.  M’gann and Artemis were asleep as Kaldur piloted the ship.  Conner was silently staring out at the expanse of clouds, peering up at the stars when they shone through.  Dick was flipping through his tablet, probably going over the mission details.  How he wasn’t as exhausted as Wally was, he didn’t know.

It had been a long mission, full of twists and turns, but they’d finally gathered what they needed and were able to slip away with only a few injuries.  There were some bumps, but they’d done it.  Mission complete.

And yet… Wally couldn’t settle down.  It was like the adrenaline from the fight just kept rising, bubbling up inside.  He didn’t want to go back.  Going back meant going back to that house, and going back to that house, well that meant he had to shut down.  He had to turn off his emotions, take every blow as it came and endure.  He’d managed so far, so why was it suddenly threatening to make him explode?

Cowl drawn back, he fidgeted with his goggles in his lap.  Wally could handle this.  He could.  Despite being tired, tears welled up in his eyes.  He bit his lip to keep them from overflowing, grateful for the sharp, grounding pain.  Yet it wasn’t enough.

Anxiety was thrumming beneath his skin.  It tore through his veins like the Speed Force, threatening to overtake him.  He couldn’t fight it.

Wally slid his arm over the seat in front of him, where Dick was working, and curled his fingers into Dick’s cape.  The feel of Robin’s cape was thick, but warm.  He clung to it like a child.

Dick had frozen the instant Wally’s fingers hand found his cape, but he didn’t say anything.  Wally noticed when he set the tablet down his lap, and then his hand came up to Wally’s, brushing up against it.

Wally squeezed the bit of cape in his clutches tighter.  Dick’s hand brushed against his again, stroking the suit covered digits.  “Are you okay?” he heard Dick softly ask.

“I’m good,” Wally murmured back, but his hand remained hooked into Dick’s cape.

Dick hummed a little, attentive.  “Are you sure?”

Was he?  No.  Wally had learned to lie.  To his family, to his friends, to himself.  He didn’t want to go back there.  Tears spilled over, rolling down his cheeks and dripping onto his lap.  “Yes,” he whispered back, trying to keep himself from sounding off.

“Mmm…”

Dick didn’t say a word.  He returned to using the tablet, although Wally could tell Dick’s focus was now halved.

His hand cramped and he tasted salt on his lips, but he remained silent and still.  He was grateful for the cover of night, for the fact that his companions were either asleep or too tired to realize that behind them, his cheeks were wet.

When he lost feeling in his fingers, he shifted them.  Stretching for a moment, they returned to bury themselves in Dick’s cape.  It was a silent action, but it was comforting.

Dick’s fingers brushed up against his gently.  The bird remained silent though.  He didn’t say anything, so neither did Wally.  It was an hour’s trip back, but Wally clung to the cape, sobbing without a sound.

Back at Mt. Justice, he waited until everyone had exited before he got up.  His healing took care of the blood-shot eyes and the swollen eyelids, but they wouldn’t erase the tear tracks.

Deciding it was safe, Wally stood and casually walked into the mountain.  Everyone was getting ready to crash or leave.  “See ya’ later, sleeping gators~” Wally forced out with a smile.

He barely left before he heard Dick behind him.  “Wally.”  Wally turned to look at his friend.

“You know you can always call me, no matter what.  I’m always a phone call away,” Dick told him, voice sincere and steady.

Wally’s lips quirked in a grateful smile.  He hugged Dick without a second thought, ashamed as his eyes burned.  “I know.  Thanks, man,” Wally whispered into Dick’s ear.

He bathed in Dick’s embrace for a moment before he left go.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rob,” Wally said, torn between wanting to lay it all out, to tell his friend how he was afraid, and running somewhere to hide.

Dick squeezed his shoulder.  “Tomorrow.”  Yet before Wally could leave, he felt Dick’s fingers run along his cheeks.  “Next time, don’t cry alone.”

Wally’s throat constricted with emotion.  He could barely get out an “okay” before Dick led him to the Zeta beam.  “Be safe,” Dick told him before the mountain vanished from around him.

In a deserted alley, Wally stared at where Dick had been, back at the mountain.  “..One day, I’ll tell you,” he said to Dick, although the boy could no longer hear him.  “one day.”

He returned home feeling a little bit better, even though he knew it wasn’t the last time he’d be crying silently.

**Author's Note:**

> Random piece that struck me today.
> 
> A/N: Going to be getting busy in the near future, so updates will be very slow and weird.
> 
> Tumblr: tabihe


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